1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to industrial manufacturing processes, and more specifically to an improved method and apparatus for collecting data relative to manufacturing equipment downtime.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known industrial manufacturing production processes typically consist of multiple steps, or stages, to produce a given product. Many, if not all, of the stages include power usage for the control of each process step. This power usage can be logged to generate a record as to when the process step was operational, and when it was not.
When the manufacturing equipment is not running it is referred to as "downtime". Downtime can either be planned (e.g., no work, nighttime, etc.) or unplanned (e.g., mechanical breakdowns, spills, etc.). In some situations, the cause of the downtime may be logged by hand by the operator into batch records (where such batch records are kept).
At other times, the cause for a given downtime may be deciphered from the downtime pattern, if it is distinctive. Or, the cause of the downtime may exist only in the minds of the operations people, and subject to their powers of recall. There is no known on-the-fly dedicated system that exists for data gathering of downtime causes.
Although major unplanned downtimes can be dramatic enough to attract corrective action, cumulative smaller downtime losses can escape unnoticed. Knowledge of all downtime stoppages, their causes, duration and summation of this information would encourage corrective action to be taken (or not taken), so that operating efficiencies could be maximized. Furthermore, the effectiveness of corrective measures could be quantified.